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Saturday, May 31, 2014

While wearing Pahlish Black Lace Elderberry I showed you yesterday, it reminded me somewhat of Crows Toes Half Past Yesterday (shown here), so I decided to swatch them together for a comparison post.

Already the bottleshot shows that these two are maybe somewhat similar, but very far from dupes. The glitter in Black Lace Elderberry is much redder that the one in Half Past Yesterday. Half Past Yesterday misses the flakie glitter, but has a strong copper shimmer that gives the jelly base an almost golden shine, noticable lighter and warmer than Black Lace Elderberry's base.

Half Past Yesterday on my index and ring finger, Black Lace Elderberry in my middle and pinkie finger. Three coats each plus one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Black Lace Elderberry has a plum leaning purple jelly base (the bottle shots show it a little too blue-toned, the mani pictures are more color accurate) with reddish copper hexes and flakie glitter. Some of the bigger hexes are holographic,that's the ones that look orange in my pictures. Black Lace Elderberry seems very sheer at first, but it builds up nicely. Pictures show three coats plus one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Thursday! This week's theme is lilac, and my golden oldie is Happy Hands The Worst Is Over.

The Worst Is Over has a lilac jelly base with pink, purple and red (some of them holographic, that's the orange looking ones in my pictures) hexes in two sizes plus small blue squares. I used three coats and had no issues with application. One coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top provided a smooth finish.

Happy Hands polishes retired, so other than blog sales, there's no way to get these anymore.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Today's post features a quite new swiss nail polish brand: exurbe cosmetics. I've been asked to test two of their polishes, thank you so much for this opportunity!

exurbe cosmetics produces 5-free polishes that are not tested on animals. The polishes are sold online (members only) and in some selected stores. Their collection contains 50 different polishes at the moment, but I'm sure there's more to come.

The polishes come in a square bottle with a removable cap, much like Chanel bottles. The design is pretty clean but I like it, square bottles are easier to stash ;-)

The first polish I recieved is China Girl, a bright pastel creme in a color that lies somewhere between mint and pistachio. It's not blue enough to be a true mint, but also not yellow enough to be called pistachio. The formula was surprisingly good for a pastel polish. Most pastels are somewhat thick and sheer at the same time and, honestly, a pain to apply. China Girl is a little sheer with the first coat, but completely opaque after the second. It has a medium viscosity, neither too thin nor too thick, and it's easy to apply. The pictures show two coats topped with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

The second polish is Two Minutes To Midnight, a navy creme with slight teal and grey undertones. Two Minutes To Midnight is highly pigmented, the pictures show only one coat (plus one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top), so it's a true one-coater. The formula is a little on the thin side, but still quite easy to apply. It's recommendable to take your time with application, as clean up gets a little messy due to the really high pigmentation (as you can see on my index finger).

Since I'm usually wearing my polishes only one day, I can't really say anything about longevity, but I can confirm that neither of these two polishes had any signs of tipwear or chipping after 24 hours. I was really impressed by the easiness of appliaction and the quality in general.

So, who's the peer group of exurbe cosmetics, or in other words: who should buy these polishes?

Anyone who's living in Switzerland or Liechtenstein (no international shipping yet), likes high quality polishes with exclusiveness and doesn't mind the typical swiss price tag (one bottle costs Fr. 21.-, that's about the same range as swiss prices for Essie, OPI, China Glaze, Butter London etc.).

If you're interested in exurbe cosmetics, you can use this link to order them (that's an affiliate link, if you order through it, I get a provision). There are no shipping costs, no matter how many polishes you order.

These polishes were offered for reviewing purposes. Again, thank you very much, exurbe cosmetics!

Monday, May 26, 2014

It's time for another multichrome mani. This time, I used ILoveNailPolish Nostalgia (holo version).

Nostalgia (H) shifts from a pink leaning read over yellow and green and blue in extreme angles. The holo effect is pretty subtle, but clearly visible in sunlight or direct lamp light. Three thin coats provided opacity.

Direct lamp light

under water

On my accent nails I used Nostalgia (H) plus three other ILoveNailPolish holo multichromes (Birefringence, Cygnus Loop and Mutagen, each in the (H) version) with two different dotting tools over a black creme (one coat of aEngland Camelot). One coat of Essence Better Than Gel Nails Top Sealer finished this mani.

Friday, May 23, 2014

The third polish of the may "A Box, Indied" is Black Cat Lacquer Poison Ivy. When I saw the previews, I honestly didn't expect to like this one much, but surprisingly, it turned out to be my favorite of this box.

Poison Ivy has a grassy, moss leaning green base with green flakes and hexes (the bigger ones are holographic), some golden hexes and a lovely golden flakie shimmer. Three easy coats were enough for opacity, one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top provided a smooth finish.

Black Cat Lacquer are available at their own store (US and Canada), at MeiMei's Signatures and at Anjo Beauty. Poison Ivy was exclusive to the may "A Box, Indied". The box with five indie polishes is available at Llarowe as a one month only box or as subscription (50$ per box).